Orpheus and Eurdyice
by DarlingLittleAry
Summary: Annabeth was always right behind him, moving with him, fighting with him, being with him. When her soul is dragged to the underworld, Percy has no other choice, he will be the modern day Orpheus, bringing back his lost love no matter how the Gods test him.
1. The Clutches of Hades

"Right behind you, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth reassured Percy as she jabbed her sword up and into the monster they were fighting. "Just focus on our fight and trust that I'll be one step behind you."

Percy nodded in her general direction, continuing to use riptide to slash and thrust at the creature. He countered every move the monster threw in his direction, ducking out of the way. The monster advanced on him, nearly knocking Percy from the edge of the steep cliff they were on. He struggled to keep the beast occupied, the struggle growing more intense. After a few long minutes, Annabeth had come up with a plan and the two trickled the venomous beast over the ledge.

Percy sat down on the ground, rubbing a hand over his face, drawing sweat and dirt away from his eyes. After a moment of catching his breath he looked up and over to Annabeth who was drying her face with the edge of her shirt, one hand resting over her side,.

"Not too shabby, Wise Girl."

"I guess you weren't too bad yourself," she smiled, making a move to stand, but wincing, sucking in a deep breath, her skin slowly growing paler, her vision shifting from blurred to normal and back.

"Annabeth," Percy said, standing up, darting to her side.

"No I- I'm," she started, though the world was slowly buzzing around her.

"Where is it? Annabeth look at me, look at my eyes. I need you to tell me where it hit you," Percy held her face.

Slowly she moved her hand from where she was clutching her side. There was a gash through her shirt, blood slowly seeping from it. He lifted the side of the orange material, looking at the cut. Elegant spirals of black swirled and spread, moving out from the sides of the gash.

"You didn't say it hit you," Percy scolded, carrying her to Blackjack, hoping that if he made it back to camp soon enough, someone from the Apollo cabin could help her. "Hurry to camp, Blackjack, as fast as you can go."

'Sure thing, Boss,' the horse responded to him, ascending into the sky. They traveled through the tragic twilight, breezing by the pink clouds and towards the border of their camp. Percy held Annabeth against him, keeping one hand steady on blackjack to keep them balanced. He placed soft kisses to her curls and

When they landed, campers flocked over happily, ready to hear a story of their success. Percy and Annabeth always came back victorious from their fights or quests, had they lost they would have been dead. Life as a demigod was either win your battles or loose your life. They had been fighting side by side since they were twelve and they had grown to know each other tactics and strategies.

"Everyone move," Percy commanded, carrying a limp Annabeth in his arms. "Get help!" He knelt, laying her against his lap. "Stay awake, Wise Girl."

She struggled to keep her gray eyes focused on him, the world around her moving so fast and everything feeling foggy. She could feel one foot in the grave, her soul slowly departing, but Percy kept pulling her back, the devotion and love in his eyes, the pain she could see across his features as she fought to keep her eyes open, to keep her soul in her, unwilling to give into death's strong clutch. Percy willed her to fight through it.

"P-percy, I-I love you," she said. If she lost herself to death, she wanted him to remember how much he meant to her. "D-don't get h-hung up on this. K-k-keep going, S-seaweed Br-rain and be w-wise." She used all the strength she had to sit up and press a gentle kiss to his lips before relaxing against her.

"Don't you dare give up on me, Chase. This isn't how your going out, you've fought so many monsters, you've held up the world, poison isn't going to be what gets you." He held her face, making her lock eyes with him as a member of the Apollo cabin came over to treat the poison.

Annabeth let out a small whimper, biting her lip as he started to treat her wound, but the poison had already spread too far and Annabeth placed a soft hand on Percy's face. "M-move on. I-I love you, Seaw-weed Brain," she rasped out, kissing him delicately on the lips before letting out a shaking breath and falling into the hands of Hades.

Percy trembled as he held her close to him,"not you, Wise Girl. Please, not you." He buried his face in her hair, shaking his head in disbelief. Just an hour ago they had been fighting monsters, Annabeth right behind him, the two following each other, working together, but now she was gone. The soft lips which he had been kissed by so many times were cold and vacant. Her stormy blue eyes which held her emotions with fierce intensity were just dull. He didn't know how long he stayed there, clutching his Annabeth close to him.

After some time,Chiron placed a hand on his shaking shoulder, "Percy, come now. Let go." Percy tightened his grip on Annabeth and Chiron sighed, "Annabeth wouldn't want this, Percy. She would be happy with you like this. We need to bur-" a sob from Percy cut Chiron off. Holding up the world felt easy compared to this. Everything burned, every fiber in his being stung and it felt as if his bones were turning to dust inside his body.

Slowly Rachel and Tyson came to him, kneeling beside him and wrapping their arms around him, holding him as he sobbed into Annabeth. It took them over an hour to coax him into letting her body go, all the while trying to keep themselves calm and collected, though Tyson could barley contain his blubbering.

With the help of Clarisse, who was much more able to lift Percy, heavy with muscle, they took Percy to lay down, but not in his own cabin, but in the Athena cabin. They helped him into Annabeth's bunk, moving her building notes aside so he could lay, but still preserving them for her siblings or Percy should he like to look over them and decipher her thoughts.

Percy buried his face in the smell of her pillow, eyes focusing on blonde strands of hair which where left there. Under her pillow was a picture of her and Percy. They were smiling, Percy holding her close to him. He just sighed, tears rolling down his blank face. No one in the cabin questioned why he was there and no one else spoke against it. Even if him staying out of his own cabin was against the rules and could possibly anger Athena, they all knew that he needed to feel her in anyway possible.

The next day, Percy was expected to speak at the burning of her shroud, but he couldn't find the words. How could he be expected to put Annabeth into words when she was so beyond that? In his mind, Annabeth could only be so described, but it would never do her justice. How could they expect him to talk about her, when she was so different and when he couldn't talk at all? The ceremony was beautiful. The kids from the Apollo cabin played music and when the shroud was burned, Percy couldn't watch.

The days that followed were a blur for Percy. He didn't remember much of them, just that they were horrible and painful, the world moved around him like white noise which he could pay little heed to. He felt this tug in him, Annabeth couldn't be gone could she?

A few days later Percy went home. He couldn't bring himself to accept that she was gone and move on, so he went back to his home in New York. He spent countless hours going over myths and studying Hades and the underworld before he knew what he had to do, he had to copy Orpheus, but with no musical talent, he prayed to his father and Annabeth's mother that his words would suffice in appealing to Hades and Persephone.


	2. Entertaining Love

'' _Get it together, Seaweed brain. If you want me, you know how to come get me,"_ Annabeth's voice filled his thoughts. " _Think Percy. Think. You can come for me, I know."_

"Annabeth," Percy groaned, clutching his black mop of hair, not maintained since Annabeth was no longer with him, and he tried not to pull it out. Though what would it matter if he did? The good thing he had in the world, the reason he had to keep going, to push out the constant temptation of darkness, was gone and in a way, so was he.

They had known each other for so long. She knew Percy in ways he didn't know himself and he know Annabeth in ways she didn't know herself. They both had spent so much time studying each other, knowing how the other breathed, smiled, the way Annabeth's brow would crinkle when she was over analyzing, the way Percy took a deep breathe when angry, trying not to snap.

" _Calm Down, Percy, getting angry won't help me,"_ he heard her reasoning voice, knowing that she would be smiling, laughing at him, he could hear it in the voice in his head and he could just picture the way she would cross her arms and shake her head, her eyes rolling as she watched him get frustrated. Annabeth was always so smart, so wise when it came to things like this. He could envision the way she would wear a cocky smirk as she bragged to him about how she knew exactly what to do. He would wrap his arms around her and peck her lips, telling her he was impressed because he knew that she liked that.

Still, Annabeth was gone and Percy had to get his act together. He couldn't keep going on like this, letting the days waste away as he spent his time calling Nico, asking for advice on how to get her back. He always got the same response.

"Look Percy, I tried bringing someone back remember? It won't work. Dead is dead unless there is some sort of other special case, like Hazel. "

He didn't know what else to do. He studied all sorts of techniques that he got from weird ladies who had magic balls on tables and told him they could contact the dead. He didn't believe it, they weren't ladies that Hades would allow to communicate with the dead, but he was running out of time and resources. Annabeth would be judged soon and then he would be too late. He only had a few days left at this point, Nico had told him that much.

He heard an over dramatic lady sob, the kind you would hear in a melodrama, and it stirred him from his thoughts. He jumped up, turning around to see a beautiful woman. Aphrodite. Her features changed, manipulating to look like his idea of true beauty. She was taller, she stood strong and proud, her hair was in princess curls and her eyes were a stormy gray, but not the right kind of gray. Her eyes weren't as fierce, as intimidating, the curls in her hair nice, but they weren't the same kind of curls he loved. Aphrodite's were tamed, not a hair out of place, but Annabeth had wind curls, untamable just like her.

"What?" He rolled his eyes, sitting back as he gave the goddess an irritated stare. He was tired of God and goddesses and monsters and everything that stood in his way of happiness. Since he was twelve, he had been serving the gods and saving the worlds and it might be selfish, but all he wanted was a nice home with Annabeth. He wanted a family and children and the soft patter of baby feet on the floor as a little girl,who was just as stunning as her mother, crawled into his arms.

"This is just so tragic. I knew you two wouldn't disappoint. I love a good love story," she swooned, placing a manicured hand on her forehead. Defiantly not as beautiful as Annabeth's calloused fingers. This manicured, manufactured beauty wasn't cutting it for him.

"Well guess what, the story is over and you gods and can go find another couples lives to ruin over you. Does it make you feel good? Do you like watching us suffer as we loose each other ? And for what? Your entertainment? "

"Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. Percy Jackson, I never thought you to be the type who quits, especially not on your little Annabeth. I was hoping for a more successful version of Orpheus and

Eurydice. What a beautiful couple they were, such a shame he had prying eyes and couldn't just keep his focus. You people really need to work on that."

Percy froze, his mind now working as one hundred miles an hour, his thoughts everywhere. "Orpheus…the music guy who made Hades and Persephone sad so they let him have his wife."

"For a price, " Aphrodite added. "Nothing is free, especially not a life. He had to earn her back. He wasn't allowed to turn and look upon her, checking to see that she was still there, but he failed at such a simple task, what a typical hero. Slays monsters, defeats the world, and one tiny thing ruins around, self control, an arrow to the heal, petty flaws. Still, I have seen good things from you, Percy. I think you can save your little blonde brainiac if you put in some effort, but Hades won't want to look like he is repeating himself. I can guarantee he will have more planned for you than he did Orpheus. "

"He expects me?" Percy wasn't sure whether to be annoyed or flattered that the god could recognize his loyalty and devotion to his girlfriend.

"Yes, I do believe he expected you the second he saw her soul. He is holding her for you, keeping her from being judged, or so I'm guessing. Heroes tend to cut in those lines."

"And so I should go down there," he said dumbly, trying to think everything through.

"Duh, and look," the goddess snapped her fingers and grinned, "your bags are packed. Now don't let me down, I wasn't done with your story yet. Maybe you'll get a happy ending. I am the goddess of love and fertility, you know?"

"Yeah, I know. So I'm off then..."

"And I'll help you even more!" With the snap of her manicured fingers, the two were standing in front of the entrance to the underworld. "Don't disappoint, Percy Jackson. This isn't just about you, this is me proving love still exists. I have a lot riding on you, demigod. Now, cover your eyes," she warned as she turned into her true form.

Once the goddess left, Percy was left alone, staring at the entrance to Hades realm, the underworld. On his back was a backpack, an owl charm on the end, a reminder from Aphrodite to find her, to bring her back at all costs. So he took the first step down the long path to the underworld. After a long trek, time moving around him in an odd way, feeling dazed. He didn't know if months had passed, hours, or mere seconds, but eventually he got to the end of the road. He was met with skeleton soldiers in various uniforms, casualties from various wars. One skeleton merely nodded in the direction of Hades throne room.

Once he got into the depressingly dark room with a large throne in the middle, a tall lean man draped over it. He looked insanely bored, but could you blame him? He was around the dead all day and this damp, dark hell, literally, was not where Percy wanted to be. He would much rather be curled up with Annabeth in Sally's New York apartment, her notes scattered across his room and her sent imprinted on one half of his bed.

Percy didn't touch Annabeth's things after she passed away. Her notes still ere everywhere, books and backpack in the corner of his room. She had clothes hanging in his closet and her smell still lingered everywhere. Most nights, he had to scoot onto her side of the bed to even feel okay.

"Ah, Percy Jackson," Hades laughed. With the flick of his wrist, Annabeth was standing next to his throne. "See I like this one, she's got fire. Now, about getting her back. You can't, you don't have the musical capabilities or my sympathy, but I want something. So tell me, Percy, how about a quest?"

A/N: Let me know what you guys think! I promise that the Chapters will get longer! Should I keep going?


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